


Blood, Water, and What Lies Between

by timelesbian (madcapdragonshenanigans)



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, help I've fallen back into doctor who and I can't get up, i said FLUFF motherfucker, neither can river, space wives adopt a school full of smol children with abandonment issues yay!, welcome to the doctor is a sucker for children, won't say no
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-05 01:43:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16358264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madcapdragonshenanigans/pseuds/timelesbian
Summary: After meeting a young girl on New Earth who is trying to run away, the Doctor decides to take action and become a teacher at her boarding school and orphanage. It is soon apparent there is more to this school than poor teaching, and the Doctor and her newest young friends must discover what. All of this is made difficult by the fact that the Doctor's office neighbor is none other than Professor River Song, and she wants nothing more than to get her wife's help in the matter.ORThe Doctor and River have separately and accidentally adopted a boarding school full of little girls with trust issues.





	1. A Problem and A Solution - Not in That Order

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I'm Madeline, and I haven't written for this fandom since I was thirteen, but here I am because Jodie and SPACE WIVES. I hope y'all enjoy this as much as I am enjoying writing it. 
> 
> Also I'm ignoring my english 202 homework for this, so there's that. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Sometimes, the Doctor traveled alone.

She didn’t do it often, and usually by alone she meant without the friends she was currently traveling with on a regular basis. She liked making new friends. And sometimes her friends would be busy. Yaz and Ryan had jobs, and Graham had friends and doctor’s appointments.

So sometimes she traveled alone.

“Who are you?”

The Doctor looked up from where she’d been studying the bottom of a Scottish creek. Well, New Scottish if she paid attention to the fact that she was on New Earth. A little girl in a bright yellow raincoat was staring at her.

“I’m the Doctor,” she said, straightening her suspenders and brushing moss off her knees.

“What are you a doctor of?” the little girl asked. She was holding her teddy bear defensively, and her grip on her heavy looking back backpack was tight.

“Oh =, just about everything. What’s your name?”

“Casey Bright,” she said.

“Lovely name. Why are you running away, Casey?” The Doctor stuck her hands into her pockets.

“My teacher is mean. Says I don’t think about things right. Madame says I’m just being whiney and lazy, so I’m gonna go to a versity to learn lots and tell Miss Braxter she’s wrong.” Casey glared angrily at a spot around the Doctor’s knees.

“What’s a ‘versity’?” the Doctor asked.

“It’s the grown up school. All my teachers went to versity, so I’m going too.”

The Doctor nodded, already going through a mental list of how she’d pull off her fourth of a plan.

“Seems like you really need a better teacher,” she said.

Casey rolled her eyes. The Doctor surmised she was around seven – the best age in the universe.

“I know, and I’m gonna get some at versity.”

“How about I come be your teacher?”

Casey frowned at her. “Why?”

“Because I’m a lot better than most versity teachers.”

The Doctor grinned, and Casey slowly matched her expression.

“Alright,” she said, nodding finally.

“Great! But I’m going to need your help, starting by you not running away and going back to your school. I’ll take care of the rest, and I’ll see you on Monday.”

Casey enthusiastically promised she would go back, and the Doctor returned to the TARDIS, with about a third of a plan.

\---

“I’m so glad someone of your credentials applied for this position, it really is a wonderful opportunity for Miss Braxter to do independent research, but it did leave us woefully understaffed at such a short notice,” Madame Kross said, looking over the paperwork the Doctor had provided her. Only most of it was forgery, but it hardly counted if she’d just changed the dates to avoid suspicion.

“I’m just lucky to have been in the right place at the right time,” the Doctor said, looking around at the cold room. It was personally impersonal. It was a room that was bare not from lack of use, but lack of emotional attachment. It made the Doctor slightly uncomfortable.

“You’ll be head of Year 2, class C. I know someone of your caliber is used to taking on older kids, and well, smarter kids. But, I’m sure even class C will benefit from your influence.”

“I have no doubt.”

Madame Kross smiled. The Doctor smiled back, which made her visibly uncomfortable.

“I’ll have one of the older girl’s show you to your room here so you can get settled, and then later she’ll show you your office, which will be in the main school building.”

“Brilliant!”

The lanky, acne faced girl Madame Kross introduced to her was 12 year old named Daisy. The Doctor’s new room was on the top floor of the faculty dormitory. It had three rooms – a sitting room and a bedroom, and a bathroom. There was a shared floor kitchen. The furnishings of all were sparse. The Doctor rubbed her hands together once she’d taken it all in. She still had all her old things from her last face’s time teaching. This would be marvelous.

“You’re Miss Braxter’s replacement, yeah?” Daisy asked after the Doctor had wandered her new rooms to her satisfaction (she’d already figured out where she was going to put the TARDIS).

“That I am. Here’d from one of the little ones she was a right fright.”

Daisy snorted. “That’s an understatement. Is for most of the teachers here. Only a handful ain’t downright nasty, or terrified of the ones who are. And we ain’t even got started on Madame Kross. Makes an awful place to live.”

“Do you live here Daisy?” The Doctor asked.

“Yeah, we all do. Either we ain’t got parents, or they don’t want us, or they’re to busy. I haven’t seen mine in three years.”

“I’m so sorry, Daisy,” the Doctor reached a hand out to pat her shoulder comfortingly, but Daisy shrugged it off.

“Ain’t much. Don’t like em’ anyways. Just wish this place was nicer. It ain’t all bad. I’m in year 7 now, and I was moved to class B, so I get an elective with my favorite teacher. I have tea in her office sometimes and we talk about archeology.”

“I’m glad to hear it, Daisy. And I promise I’m going to do my best to make this place better.”

“You can try, an’ I hope you do, but I doubt any’n could.”

After that, Daisy showed her to her new office in the main school building. The whole campus was built in the style of classic Old Earth architecture. Beautiful brickwork, asymmetric layout, huge ancient trees. The Doctor marveled how the faculty had gone so sour. Well, began to marvel – it only takes one bad ingredient to turn a whole meal sour.

Her office was a corner room on the third floor of West Hall. It had a desk, chair, and bookshelves provided. Daisy took her leave after that, handing the Doctor a hand drawn map of campus she’d done earlier that day. After she left the Doctor studied it with immense concentration, taking in all the spatial inaccuracies and nicknames and spots marked that wouldn’t be on a “proper” map. She smiled broadly and folded it carefully before putting it in an inside pocket of her coat. She tossed the printed map that Madame Kross had given her at their meeting, as it wasn’t nearly as correct as Daisy’s.

Just as she was contemplating summoning her TARDIS to start setting up her office, there was a knock at her door.

“Come in!” she called cheerily.

The door opened, and a ghost walked in.

No, not a ghost. The Doctor swallowed and did her best to not look at River as she was a moment before.

“You must be the new Year 2 teacher,” River said, sliding into the room. She looked professional, with her fitted pencil skirt and blouse, long deep blue sweater, and her wild curls pulled back. “I’m Professor River Song, it’s lovely to meet you.” She extended her hand.

It took the Doctor a full two seconds to take her hand and shake it much too enthusiastically. “A pleasure to meet you.”

River laughed. Oh, how the Doctor had missed that laugh.

“I’d love to know my new office neighbor’s name,” she teased, leaning closer.

 _‘Abort mission, abort! Abort!’_ The Doctor thought, still shaking River’s hand absently.

“Oh, uh, d-Doctor Joan Smith.”

“Another doctor? What are you a doctor of?”

The Doctor panicked and released River’s hand. “Oh, several things really. Mainly theoretical physics and ancient languages.”

“Those areas of study don’t seem very related.”

“You’d be surprised.”

River laughed again. “Well, I certainly look forward to getting to know you better.”

“As do I,” the Doctor said slowly, trying to calm her racing hearts. “But, I _really_ must start unpacking if I want to be ready to start tomorrow morning.”

“Of course!” River said brightly. “I’ll leave you to your own devices, and catch you… tomorrow perhaps?”

“Definitely, that’d be brilliant!”

“Brilliant indeed.”

And River was gone.

The Doctor let out a loud, stuttering breath. Okay, this was not good. Very good. Wonderful. Terrible. She chocked back a dry sob. Her wife was working at this very school, in the office next door, and didn’t recognize her at all. Didn’t have a clue who she was. She couldn’t, how could she? _‘I should tell her,’_ the Doctor thought, madly, before slapping herself.

“Ow,” she whispered, wringing out her hand. “Alright Doctor, focus on the task at hand. Give these girls a good education, get the Madame out of the school, and make this school a home again. Do not go floundering around your wife who doesn’t know she’s your wife.”

Easier said than done.


	2. Lessons Best Learned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor's first day of teaching goes well after a somewhat rocky start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day? Both 1000+ words long? Must be the procrastination. 
> 
> If only I could apply this motivation to homework.

The Doctor looked around her office in the early morning light. She’d been bopping back and forth between her rooms and her office all evening, getting them to her liking. She had no idea how long she’d be staying here, so she wanted to be comfortable, and to provide that comfort to her students. It wouldn’t do for them to visit her in barren or generic spaces.

Her bookshelves were now filled with books to the point of bursting – mostly personal favorites, from theoretic quantum physics to children’s stories. There were textbooks too, in many languages, from many eras and planets, in every subject imaginable. Pictures she’d taken on travels, and posters of interesting things littered the walls, leaving nothing uncovered. Notebooks, full and empty, and loose papers and dozens of pens filled her drawers, along with a box filled with custard crèmes and chocolates and tea bags. A picture of Susan and Bill sat side by side on her desk, along with a myriad of gadgets she felt might be useful. She’d wanted to put a picture of River on her desk, but decided not to risk even putting it in a drawer. That picture was in her bedroom, next to a family portrait featuring her 11th face and both Amy and Rory, and River after a Christmas they’d spent together.

She checked that her book bag was filled with everything she might need, then headed down to her classroom.

It was a ground floor classroom, and she could hear it from down the hall the girls were talking and playing so loudly. She wasn’t inclined to interrupt them.

But she must.

She opened the door and the room fell silent aside from the scrambling to return to desks. Every head was bowed, eyes fixed on their desks, and the Doctor felt her hearts fall. She hurried to the desk at the front of the classroom and set her book bag down with a slam. At least half the girl flinched as if they’d been struck across the face. The Doctor clenched her fists, anger at the previous teacher boiling inside her veins. She took a deep breath and released the anger.

“Sorry about that, didn’t realize it would be so loud.” She smiled sheepishly at her students.

The twenty or so seven year old didn’t move, except for Casey, who looked up in surprise.

“Doctor?” she squeaked out, before the dark haired girl next to her kicked her.

“That’s me!” the Doctor said, rubbing her hands together before rolling up her jacket sleeves. She picked up the chalk lying in front of the giant chalkboard behind her and wrote in large letters as she spoke. “Doctor Joan Smith. But, just call me the Doctor.”

She turned to see more of the class was looking at her now. Casey was practically beaming.

“Now,” the Doctor continued. “I know your last teacher was horrible to you, but I’m not her. I’m here to teach you. You’re all a bright bunch, and – yes? What’s your name, love?”

“My name’s Decana,” the nervous looking girl who’d had her hand up said. “And, you probably didn’t know this, but we’re the challenged class.”

“Challenged?”

Casey’s friend spoke up. “We’re the dumb kids. We ask a lot of dumb questions and can’t memorize anything.”

The Doctor briefly considered leaving the class to punch the Madame or whoever had told these seven year olds that they were stupid.

“What’s your name?”

“Bech.”

“Well, Bech, I happen to know that the only way to learn anything is to ask a lot of questions, and there isn’t such a thing as a dumb one. And, you can quote me on this, memorization isn’t learning.”

Now all the kids were looking at her with wide, hopeful eyes.

“Now, since this is English, I thought we’d talk about Shakespeare,” The Doctor said, picking up her book bag again.

There was some muttering, and Decana raised her hand again.

“Yes, DC?” The Doctor asked, only minorly distracted as rifled through the pockets in her bag.

“Um, we haven’t read any Shakespeare, and I don’t think it’s our level.”

“Aha!” The Doctor exclaimed softly as she found the right pocket. “Well, I believe we can do it together.” She upended the leather book bag and let twenty-one copies of the complete works of Shakespeare cascade onto the desk.

The children gasped.

“All right friend, everyone grab a copy and we’ll start reading Much Ado About Nothing aloud. You know, I was in the original production? Shakespeare begged me and my friend Donna to play the leads.”

\---

Hours later, after English, History, Math, Lunch, Art, and Science, the Doctor told her class they were free to go. None of them budged. Casey raised her hand.

“Yes, Casey?”

“What’s our homework?”

“Homework?”

The girls started sharing looks with one another, mumbling under their breath.

“Yeah, like math assignments or whatever.”

“Why would I make you do that?”

“To help us retain, or something?”

The Doctor really didn’t understand the concept of handing out copious amounts of homework. Assigning research? Yes. Telling them to practice subjects they’re having trouble with? Yes. But just busy work? Never in two millennia had she ever understood the point.

“Write me a story,” was what she said eventually.

“About what?” a girl named Magdalena asked from the middle of the room.

“Whatever you want! Just entertain yourself, and it will entertain me!”

“Is it graded?” Decana asked.

“Nope!”

Now the whispers were excited.

“Alright, off you pop, go enjoy the rest of your day.”

As if on cue, the school’s bell finally rang. Her class filed out except for Casey, who nervously approached her desk.

“You came,” Casey said, almost a whisper.

“Of course I did, I said I would.”

“Grown ups don’t do what they say.”

“Not all of them, but I do my best.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Can I really write about anything?”

“Yup.”

Casey giggled, looking like a proper seven-year-old for the first time the Doctor had seen her.

“And you can stop by my office whenever you need me.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

After a little more giggling on Casey’s part, she small girl exited the classroom, and the Doctor made her back up to her office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More River in the next chapter, pinkie promise!
> 
> Comments always appreciated!


	3. How Do You Take Your Tea?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Professor Song pays Doctor Smith an office visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is 11:30pm, someone stop me.

“Knock knock!”

The Doctor looked up from her book, and children’s book from the early 21st century that had wonderful implications about nestled galaxies, to see River’s head in her office doorway.

“Saw that your door was open, thought I’d pop in,” River said, but the two cups of tea in her hands confused her story. They were mismatched, and River put the one with blue and gold swirls in front of the Doctor.

“Thank you,” the Doctor said, taking a sip and humming appreciatively.

River took a seat without prompting, and leaned back in it as if she’d been stopping by her office for tea for months or years.

“Soooo…” River said in that way the Doctor knew after years of marriage spelled trouble. “How was your first day?”

“Oh absolutely brilliant, those girls are a marvel. They just pick up everything so fast. If they keep going like this, I think I might start teaching them some ancient languages.”

“What about alien languages?”

“Well, depends on the alien.”

River smirked and took a long sip of her tea. The Doctor brought her own cup to her lips, but spilled it slightly as she missed her lips. River was wearing that lipstick again, that one shade of red she wore when she wanted something. The Doctor tried to clean the tea off her chin with dignity, but judging by the poor way River was hiding her laughter she was proving unsuccessful. _‘I’m just as bad as Bill.’_

“How was your day?” The Doctor asked.

River waved a hand. “Oh, the usual. Taught a couple archeology classes, a history class. Listened to my closer students complain about the other teachers.”

“They really don’t like it here,” the Doctor muttered, mostly to herself.

“They do not, and I intend to fix it.” River leaned forward now, fixing the Doctor with a serious stare.

“As do I.” The Doctor leaned forward as well. “How long have you been teaching here?”

“Couple of years, after I left the library.”

The Doctor chocked. “Library?”

“I worked for a library for an odd number of years. Cataloguing and such. Interesting work, but I got tired of it. Felt like I never left.”

The Doctor stared at her tea so that River wouldn’t see into her eyes, because she knew if she looked at her too long River would _know_ and that would break time and she could _not_ do that. Never mind how warm her ears were going, and how hard her hearts beat, _aching_ to just _tell her._

“Well I hope this is more interesting,” she said, weakly, before distracting herself with tea. It really was the perfect cup. Just how she liked it.

“Much. Especially now you’re here.”

It took all the Doctor’s control and force of will not to spew her tea all over her desk.

“I-uh-I-eh-um I…” All the Doctor could think was _‘abort abort abort.’_

River had the _audacity_ to wink.

“Well, I,” the Doctor salvaged some ability to speak. “Um, do you have any ideas on salvage these girls lives?”

“Aside from whisking them all far away? Nothing concrete yet.” River sipped her tea.

The Doctor entertained the idea of taking all these children away in the TARDIS with River at her side. _‘Bad, naughty Doctor. Practical solutions only.’_ She mentally slapped herself this time.

“I guess we have to work from the inside.”

River put her tea down a spindly table the Doctor had added to the room. “I have a feeling it goes deeper than just Madame Kross, but I think she’s the biggest issue. Evil attracts evil.”

“If that isn’t a fundamental law of the universe,” the Doctor muttered.

“You’d know all about that.”

Before the Doctor could ask what she meant by that, there was a knock at her doorframe.

“Professor Song?”

“Yes, Daisy?” River said, smiling kindly at the girl.

“Can I talk to you about my research essay?”

“Of course! Let’s just step into my office.” River got up and ushered the girl out of the room.

Just before leaving completely, River turned back and gave a little wave to the Doctor.

As soon as the door closed, the Doctor let her face fall onto her desk with a groan. She was doomed. River Song had doomed her again. It took her a few long moments to lift her head up and take another sip of tea.

It only crossed her mind that it was impossible for River to have known how she took her tea until much later, after the teacup was long empty.


	4. Black and Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor gets both a surprise phone call and a surprise visitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so excited about seeing Rosa tomorrow! Whomst other americans are with me?  
> In other news, I am somehow making progress on my English homework, but my theatre homework is another matter entirely...

The Doctor smiled as she entered her living room. The TARDIS windows glowed in one corner, and mismatched sofas and comfy chairs were laid out in an oval-esque shape, with blankets and pillows thrown about on them haphazardly. She’d brought some more bookshelves in, and those were filled with books like her office. The end tables she’d scrounged from some of the back rooms of the TARDIS were likewise covered in books and papers.

An old fashioned ringing sound emanated from the TARDIS, and her doors opened. The Doctor hurried into the console room and lifted the phone to her ear.

“Hello, this is the Doctor speaking.”

“Hello Doctor, this is Yaz.”

“Oh! Brilliant to hear from you, Yaz.”

“You’re not in some trouble, are you?”

“Oh, no, I’m just teaching at a school on New Earth.”

“New Earth?”

“Long story, basically you lot leave before the sun explodes and colonize an empty planet in a new solar system.”

“Do we treat it better?”

“Yes, I made sure to have words with the people in charge of the project.”

A pause, than Yaz spoke again. “You’re teaching at a school? Why?”

“Spur of the moment really, it’s a girl’s boarding school in New Scotland. They’re headmistress is rubbish, and I intend to do something about it.”

“Do you need our help?”

The Doctor thought about this.

“Not right now,” she said finally. “I haven’t figured out what’s going on, and I have some friends here already.”

“Wonderful, who?”

“Oh, just my wife.”

“Your wife?” Yaz’s voice hit an alarmingly high decibel and cracked.

“Yeah, but she doesn’t know it’s me, and I can’t tell her, it would play absolute bollocks with the space time continuum. Can’t risk it, but she seems to be on the same page as I am on this school.”

“You never cease to amaze me Doctor,” Yaz said, and the Doctor could almost hear her shaking her head.

There was a knock at the TARDIS door and the Doctor turned around. Casey stood in the TARDIS doorway in her nightie and dressing gown, eyes wide and taking in every detail of the TARDIS.

“Your other door was open,” she mumbled taking a few entranced steps inside.

“Hey, Yaz, I’m going to have to call you back.”

“Why? Is something wron-” Yaz’s words were cut off as the Doctor hung her phone up.

“Are you alright, Casey?” the Doctor asked, half jogging to intercept Casey at the stairs to the console.

“Fine,” Casey said, her voice somewhere else. “Is this all inside your phone box?”

“It is, yeah.”

“Is it a different dimension from the outside?” Casey asked, eyes finally focusing on the doctor and her voice more confident.

“Yeah! This is my TARDIS!” the Doctor grinned at her.

“Is it a spaceship?”

“Yeah, and a time machine.”

“Can we travel through time?”

The Doctor shook her head. “Not tonight, we both have class in the morning.”

“One day?”

“One day.” The Doctor nodded.

Casey looked around at the TARDIS interior again, then looked back at the Doctor. “Are you an alien?”

“I am?”

“What kind?”

“I’m a Time Lord.”

“But you’re a girl,” Casey pointed out.

“It’s just the name. Bit pretentious, really. Want a cup of tea?”

Casey blinked at her. “Yes please.”

“Go sit out there, and I’ll get us some tea.”

The Doctor rushed about after Casey had exited the TARDIS, and collected everything, and what she knew would feel like just moments to Casey, she emerged with a fully stocked tea tray.

“So, Casey,” the Doctor began, setting the tray on the tea table. “What brings you here in the middle of the night?”

“It’s only eleven.”

“Still, its time you were in bed,” the Doctor said pouring tea into both large mugs. “Milk and sugar?”

“Yes please,” Casey said, picking a custard cream off the little plate stack with them. “A little more sugar, actually.” She looked sheepish at the request, and the Doctor winked genially at her.

“You haven’t answered my first question,” the Doctor prompted, handing Casey her mug of tea.

“Well, me and Bech and Decana were talking, and we thought you should know about something we saw last week in the attic.”

The Doctor motioned for her to continue.

“Promise you won’t tell, but we were up there playing, and I fell over this thing all wrapped up in tarp, and it hurt a lot. So once I’d gotten up and everything, we looked at it, and it looked like this giant glowing salad spinner, with lots of goopy wires with stuff running through them. And it made this noise after I hit it, like this groaning humming sound. It was really scary, so we run off, and we haven’t gone back up there promise, but I thought you should know.”

The Doctor took a sip of her tea and processed what Casey had told her.

“And after you found the thing, did anything happen? In the school, I mean.”

Casey shrugged. “Miss Braxter was meaner, but not by much. I didn’t see Madame for a day or so, but I don’t always see her. I just have some weird bruises.”

The Doctor felt her face soften. “May I take a look?”

Casey nodded and scrunched up her nightgown so the Doctor could see her back and side.

The bruises were horrible. They were purple and black, with green and blue and yellow ringing the edges, and veins of white throughout. Casey’s face was scrunched up in pain as if holding the nightgown hurt her.

“Can you hold it just a little longer?” the Doctor asked softly.

Casey nodded quickly.

The Doctor pulled out her sonic and gave the bruise a scan. The readings were inconclusive and strange, unable to quite get a fix on the energy signatures. It would need a while to process. She sent the results to steep in the TARDIS databanks.

“You can let go now.”

Casey dropped her nightgown back down with a shaky gasp, and wiped at her eyes where a couple tears had leaked out from behind her glasses.

“Would you like something for the pain?” the Doctor asked.

Casey nodded. “Yes please.”

The Doctor went back into the TARDIS and returned with a little jar full of ointment that smelled of mint, vanilla, and stardust.

“The TARDIS makes this stuff for me when I get into trouble. It should help with the pain. Just rub it into the bruised area before you go to bed.”

Casey took the little jar and sniffed it.

“Smells nice,” she said.

The TARDIS gave an appreciative hum.

“Now, off you pop to bed. Don’t want you getting in trouble with any of the other teachers.”

“Don’t worry about me, I can still fit in the crawl spaces.” Casey looked far too proud of her deviant activities, and the Doctor felt a swell of pride in her chest.

“Well, then, I guess you don’t need me to be escorting you back to your dorm.”

“No, thank you though.”

Casey left, jar forming a lump inside her dressing gown pocket. The Doctor watched her go from the doorway of her living room, until she watched the small figure disappear into what she’d thought was solid wall. The Doctor laughed, quietly to herself. She sometimes marveled at the brilliance of children.


	5. The Golden Ratio

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and River have a conversation under a tree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's class today was cancelled! Mine! So guess who gets a new chapter? You!
> 
> I apologize for the angst this chapter - it just kind of happened.

Over the next week, the Doctor got to know her position in the school better. Her students began to warm up to her within the first few days, and the Doctor kept the stories they’d written for her the first day in the top drawer of her desk. River kept stopping by briefly at inconvenient times to make small talk, but never stayed long enough for her liking. It was probably for the best. The Doctor also found a sympathetic soul in Ms. Seen, a willowy black woman who taught English to the upper year students, and they often took lunch together.

It was Friday afternoon, and they were having their science class outside. She’d told them to explore nature and bring back or note down instances of Phi. She herself was busy climbing up the giant tree in the center of campus. Her coat lay on the roots of the tree, and she was dangling her legs over the side of the thick brace she was perched on. She was quite high up, and was contemplating climbing further when a voice from below distracter her.

“Afternoon Doctor Joan.”

“R-River?” the Doctor cast around looking for her and lost her balance and fell out of the tree. The wind was knocked out of her, her lungs constricting, hearts pounding, back crying out in pain. But then her vision was filled with River – wonderful amazing River with her abandoned coat slung over her shoulder. And then River was helping her up, and she was gasping a thanks.

“Are you alright sweetie?” River ran a hand gently over her back.

“Fine, just… startled.”

“I should know better, I am sorry.”

“I’ll forgive you,” the Doctor said, placing a hand on River’s knee, and she just _knew_ her face had gone soft and sappy.

River smiled warmly, and for a moment it felt like Darillium, like they’d never been apart. Then the Doctor looked away, focusing instead on Bech and Decana arguing about something loudly in the distance.

“What are you doing out here?” River asked, sitting next to the Doctor on the gnarled tree root.

“Supervising an excursion.”

“You don’t seem to be doing very well at it.”

“I am doing exceptionally, thank you very much. No one’s died yet!”

“You fell out of a tree!”

“That was entirely your fault,” the Doctor pointed out.

“Guilty as charged!” River laughed and put her hands up in fake surrender.

“Anyways, they’re doing some natural science. And some math. They can’t get into too much trouble with that. Why are you out here?”

“Let my girls go early to do some research on the holographic simulators.”

“Unsupervised?”

“It will be it’s own lesson.” River looked far too pleased, reminding the Doctor much of Casey’s smugness from earlier that week.

Which in turned made her think of the attic. She still hadn’t had a chance to investigate, what with lesson planning, actually teaching, and the teacher meetings that Madame Kross insisted on to “touch base.” Frankly it was all exhausting. But her girls made it worth it. They’d started visiting her in her office after classes, asking questions, and showing her things they’d done. A few drew her pictures and wrote her more stories, everyone of which she saved. Casey had taken to stopping by her rooms for tea at night, spending time perusing her bookshelves and asking all manner of questions.

She needed to investigate the Giant Salad Spinner of Doom. It was vital to understanding the situation, she was sure of it.

“Yoo-hoo!” The Doctor felt River’s hand on her shoulder, gently bringing her out of her thoughts. “I lost you there for a minute.”

“Sorry, just thinking. Casey mentioned something odd in the dorm attic. I’m just…”

“You have a plan to get in?” River asked, her voice dropping several octaves into a serious tone.

The Doctor shivered at the sound, suddenly aware of just how many new nerves she had in this body.

“Not quite. I’m working on it.”

“So you have no plan.”

“Hey!” the Doctor pulled away slightly. “It’s a plan in progress!”

“Sure darling,” River said, obviously fighting a smile.

“What? Do you have a plan?”

“Several, actually.” River winked, and the Doctor felt her hearts spasm.

“Care to share?”

“Not particularly. Guess you’ll just have to figure it out as we go.”

“Oh so I’m helping you with these plans I am not being made aware of?” The doctor looked at her incredulously.

“Of course you are.”

River was right, and that was what annoyed her about the whole situation. The Doctor would follow that woman to the ends of the universe and beyond, and she had on more than one occasion.

“Doctor!”

The Doctor looked up to see Casey running towards her, holding what looked like a handful of dirt. Excellent.

“What’d you find?” she asked, holding out her hands to receive whatever it was Casey was carrying.

“It’s a shell!” Casey excitedly dumped the handful of dirt in the Doctor’s hands.

Sure enough, in the soft pile was a fragile white snail’s shell. It was a perfect example of Phi – or the golden ratio, as it was more commonly known.

“That’s wonderful, Casey!”

Casey ran off again, and the Doctor carefully brushed off the shell and put it in one of the pocket dimensions of her book bag.

“These girls really love you,” River observed quietly as the Doctor was buckling her bag up.

“And I love them,” she said, not really thinking about.

“Do you have any children?” River asked, the question striking the Doctor off guard.

“No, well yes, I did. They’re gone now.” Her voice closed up, throat swelling as she chocked back the feelings that welled in her chest and behind her eyes. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t bottle things up this time, but that was something she couldn’t face today. One day, but not now when she had things to do.

River said nothing, and was still for a moment, but then the Doctor felt her wrap an arm around her, grounding her. It would be so easy to just give in…

The Doctor let herself cry, freely and silently into River’s shoulder. Release.

It was a long time later, after the tears had subsided into dry shaking, that the Doctor finally pulled away. Her eyes felt puffy, and there was a damp spot on River’s sweater. A half dozen or so of her students were sitting nearby, quietly watching with concern in their eyes.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” the Doctor whispered, the words carrying to River and the girls.

“Don’t apologize,” River said, her words almost hard, fierce even.

“What was your kid’s name?” Casey asked, leaning against the Doctor’s knee.

“I had a daught,” the Doctor said, her voice raw but surprisingly strong. “Jenny, she... she died. Same day as she was born.”

Casey said nothing and just wrapped her arms around the Doctor’s leg.

She let the class go early, and most wandered off to take advantage of their free time before dinner, but Casey and River stayed by her side under the branches of the great tree.


	6. Things Never Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and River investigate the attic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I watched Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead today and cried... a lot. Now I'm watching The Woman Who Fell to Earth. Don't let me do these things. 
> 
> ANyway
> 
> THANK YOU to all the lovely people who have been commenting! I read every single one, even if I haven't responded! There are so many and it's a little overwhelming, but please don't stop! It makes my day, it really does!

Admittedly, she probably should have heard River’s plan first. But she was afraid if she spent any more time with River, she’d _know_ and the whole space-time continuum would rupture. So she did the only logical thing should could – she snuck into the attic through the top floor window.

Well, she told herself it was logical. It was definitely not that. This was brought into clear relief when she got stuck halfway in.

“Bloody hell,” she grunted, trying wiggle her hips free of the window frame.

“Quite a predicament you’ve gotten yourself into there,” said a voice in front of her. She groaned, recognizing it immediately. “You really should have come with me.”

“If you wouldn’t mind,” the Doctor grumbled, waving her arms about.

She felt River shoulder her up, and her arms wrap around her waist, and she was yanked bodily out of the window then deposited safely on her feet.

“Stop that,” the Doctor said, pouting at River’s smug face.

“I’m not doing anything.” It was a grin now.

“Yes you are. Stop it, now.”

River only smiled wider.

The Doctor grunted. “Right let’s get on with it then.”

The attic was dusty. Old, broken pieces of furniture and boxes of books littered the floor between larger, unidentified objects. If only she could use her sonic…

“What are we looking for? Did Casey describe it?” River was carefully picking her way through the objects.

“Giant glowing salad spinner.” The Doctor crouched down, peering at the world from roughly Casey’s height. “Casey ran into it, so it might be making a weird noise.”

“Assuming it hasn’t repaired itself,” River mumbled.

The Doctor started pulling the tarps off of things. Some of them looked normal, wardrobes and such. A couple of tarps revealed metal spirals that made her fingers feel funny. But then…

“Ah-ha!” The doctor found it, right in the center.

It was about the size of a desk, circular, and metal. Slightly glowing tubes protruded from the holes in its sides. There was a silent hum of energy.

“Doctor Joan!” River called from across the room.

“A moment,” the Doctor mumbled pulling her screwdriver out surreptitiously.

“No, now.”

The Doctor paused, finger over the button, then pocketed it again and stumbled over to River.

“Look at this,” River whispered, staring into an open, glowing, cabinet.

“Oooh…” the Doctored murmured, crouching down beside her and peering at the cluster of almost gelatinous orbs. “They look… well, like eggs.”

“They are eggs, you can almost see inside them.” River looked mesmerized and horrified.

“Why were they left here?” the Doctor whispered to herself, standing up. “Why? I need… River close your eyes.”

River stood up sharply. “Why?”

“I’m gonna do a thing.”

“A sexy thing?” River looked almost hopeful.

“No a thing that could possibly break time and space, and I’d rather not do that over eggs and a salad, and I just need you to close your eyes for one second, just listen to me one _bloody_ time when I ask you to let me do something, because right now I am dangerously close to losing your temper.”

River opened her mouth wide and sucked in a heavy breath.

“God, you’re sexy when you’re angry,” she hissed.

And then River was holding the Doctor’s face, and they were kiss, and her hearts stuttered to a stop. And, oh it was what her dreams had been tormenting her with since Darillium, and River’s shirt was bunched in her hands, and her lips were soft, and warm, and…

The Doctor pushed her away; lips lingering against her will and better judgment.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped. “I’m sorry, but… we… we can’t… I’m, well, I’m married.”

“Yes, to me you great big brilliant moron.” River gave her a angry pat on the cheek. “Now will you please stop this nonsense and pull out your screwdriver to get some readings on all of this.”

“Nononono, this is not allowed. You can’t know about me, not before-” River cut her panicked rambling off.

“Before what? Darillium? Or the library? By the way-” River slapped her shoulder, not too hard. “-That’s for everything there. You were so stubborn!”

“Hey! In my defense, I’d never seen you before in my life and there was an infestation of Vashta Nerada! And you weren’t much better, if I hadn’t stored your consciousness in that screwdriver, you wouldn’t be here! You’re welcome, by the way.”

They were both silent for a moment, then River started laughing, loudly and completely, and it was infectious. The Doctor joined on, slow and stilted at first, and then just as loudly, as it turned hysterical and they clutched at each other.

“Hello, sweetie,” River whispered, leaning her forehead against the Doctor’s when the laughter had finally subsided to soft panting.

“Hello to you too.” The Doctor closed her eyes, breathing in the feeling of her wife in her arms after almost a century.

“How long as it been?” River asked.

“Too long.”

River’s hand found her jaw, and suddenly their eyes met and they melted into a soft kiss.

“I think you need to use your sonic,” River whispered when they broke apart a few moments later. “Unless you want me to.” She waved the named device in her free hand, causing the Doctor to make a scandalized squawk.

“Hey!”

River handed it over, there fingers brushing in the transfer, and the Doctor had to square her mind to the task at hand.

“Right, where were we?”

“Egg salad.” River winked.

“Exactly! Bunch of eggs hidden from the world, and a great big humming contraption doing… lets find out!”

Grinning manically, the Doctor pulled out her sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the Salad Spinner of Doom dramatically. The sonic noise flared, and sparks flew out, stinging the Doctor’s hand and she almost dropped it, letting her finger fall off the button. She swapped it to the other hand and shook out the other.

“Okay, maybe we won’t,” the Doctor said, peering at the readings. “Not looking too good. Some kind of energy converter, gave the sonic a good ol’ shock. Sorry ‘bout that. Yes, I’ll give you a second to reboot.”

River chuckled under her breath, and the Doctor sent her a mock glare.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“Just you,” River said, almost breathlessly. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too,” the Doctor said, her muscles going limp with relief. “But in the meantime, eggs? Ever seen this species?”

River shook her head. “I need another look to be sure.”

They returned to the egg cabinet, and the Doctor did a careful survey with both her eyes and her sonic. It whirred intermittently as she checked different things.

“No, I haven’t before,” River said slowly. “It looks like they connected by something, an umbilical cord, or…” she trailed off.

“A feeding tube?” the Doctor supplied, staring in awe at her sonic. “That’s what the spinner it – a mixing station of energy to feed the unborn.” She stood up, carefully tracking the cord from the egg cluster back to the spinner. “The question is – what is it feeding them?”

“Doctor…” River said slowly.

“What?” she asked, distractedly.

“It looks like one of the eggs is missing.”

The Doctor looked at her sharply, but then her ear twitched. “Someone’s coming.”

There was about five seconds of scramble before the trap door to the attic opened. The Doctor held her breath from her place beneath a sizable tarp and River. Definitely not an unfamiliar position, but the first time for this face. She held her breath and prayed that whatever had just entered the attic couldn’t detect heat signatures, or her rapidly beating hearts.

She could hear something soft. Slithery, almost. A soft clicking. And then an outraged screech, and the Doctor could see the attic lights flickering through the tarp. Not good. She could hear it moving about the room, probably checking on everything she and River had touched. Still screeching. The noise only got louder, panicked even, and the Doctor realized it must be the mother of the eggs.

Eventually, the creature fell silent, and the weird movement noises ebbed away. The attic door closed.

The Doctor didn’t dare move, and apparently neither did River. After a few minutes of nothing, the Doctor finally pushed herself up.

“What the hell was that?” the Doctor breathed lowly.

“I now less than you do.” River looked just as shaken as she was.

“How’d you get in ‘ere? Can we get out the same way?” the Doctor asked.

“Of course,” River said, pulling something out of her pocket and fastening it to her wrist. She winked and grabbed the Doctor’s hand.

In a flash they were gone and appeared in the middle of the Doctor’s living room.

“When are we?” she asked, since she knew the where.

“A couple hours ago, to give as a good alibi.”

“You’re brilliant,” the Doctor whispered, leaning her forehead against River’s cheek. “Have I mentioned that?”

“Oh, so many times, but I’ll never tire of hearing you say it.” River leaned against her, wrapping an arm around her waist.

“That was a close one.”

“Always is.”

“Have I told you that I love you?” the Doctor pressed a kiss to River’s cheekbone, resulting in a sharp intake of breath from her wife.

“That you haven’t said, often if ever.”

“Well I do, and I’m going to keep saying it from now on.” She wrapped her arms around River and pressed her face into the crook of her neck.

They stood like that for a long while, safe in each other’s arms.

“Our next steps need to be finding whoever took that egg,” River said, pulling away to make eye contact.

“Yes, but not tonight. Everyone is asleep, and it would only draw more attention to us.”

“You’re not wrong. Madame Kross hates me already.”

“Can’t imagine why.”

River hit her shoulder gently again.

“You keep doing that.”

“You keep opening your mouth and being an idiot.”

“Yeah, but I’m your idiot.”

River shook her head exasperated and then leaned in. The Doctor met her halfway, their lips meeting softly. Here, safe in her rooms, she let herself truly let go, truly feel. Her hearts pounded high in her chest, her hands slid into River’s hair, fingers tangling there as if she’d never release. She had to tilt her head up for the first time, and she felt River begin to take advantage of the slight difference by pressing her lips apart with her own and leaning her backwards ever so slightly. Her body tuned itself to River’s every frequency, waves of sensation hurtling down every nerve ending, culminating in…

She moaned against River’s mouth as she felt her legs give way as her calves hit the couch. River’s hands were sneaking up under her shirt, pushing her coat and suspenders out of the way. The Doctor latched on to River’s lower lip, pulling slightly, trying to draw her impossibly closer. River hummed into her mouth before pulling away softly.

“Shall we continue this in the bedroom?”

The Doctor nodded vigorously. “ _Please._ ”


	7. In Another Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and River have a soft moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi friends! It has been a few days, hence why no update! I did get my english homework done, the morning it was due (as in, today at 9:37am), BUT I also accidentally got a girlfriend?!?!? I'm shocked, but also really really happy. 
> 
> ANyways enough with my overshare, and onto the fic

Sunlight streamed through the window and the Doctor screwed her eyes shut. She was tired, and sore, and didn’t feel like the sun had any business bothering her. Next to her, River rolled over closer to her, sighing heavily. The Doctor let her eyes fall open slowly, as the sensations of the night before flooded back to her body. Her wife was lying next to her, hair glowing in the morning sun. She was radiant. The Doctor sighed happily and pressed a gentle kiss to River’s forehead. River mumbled something and sleepily wrapped her arms around her waist.

“Morning,” the Doctor whispered, ghosting her hand over River’s side.

River hummed, eyes still closed, a smile pulling across her lips. The Doctor brushed her fingers across her cheek, making River’s smile grow.

“Mmmm… can’t we just stay here today?” she mumbled.

“For now, I suppose,” the Doctor whispered, nestling in closer.

River opened her eyes, and the Doctor’s breath caught. She’d seen so many things reflected in those eyes; stars, fire, skyscrapers on far off planets, and ancient civilizations, the core of The Library – which she still saw in her nightmares. But now…

“How’d you get out?” the Doctor whispered, still entranced by River’s bright eyes.

“What do you mean,” River asked, voice still cloudy with sleep.

“The Library,” she clarified. “I’ve spent decades trying to figure out how to get you out, properly save you and the rest. A bit of an obsession if I’m being honest.”

River laughed, pulling the Doctor close.

“Spoilers,” she whispered.

The Doctor closed her eyes, savoring the word. She’d missed that word, like a part of herself – almost as much as she’d missed River.

“Glad to know we still have those.” She pressed a soft kiss to River’s lips.

“I do love this face of yours,” River mumbled into her lips. “So honest, so kind.”

“I thought you told me you loved all my faces equally,” the Doctor scoffed, pulling back slightly, both flattered and miffed at the implication.

“I did, and I meant that. I just love different things about each one, the different qualities that come to the surface.”

The Doctor laughed. “So you’ve seen this face before?”

“Spoilers,” River said, laughing through her words.

The Doctor kissed her softly, holding her face tenderly. She’d missed mornings like this, mornings where she could just hold her wife. _Kiss_ her wife. Had River’s lips always been so soft? Had her tongue always felt like that when it pushed against her mouth? And, _‘oh,’_ the Doctor thought just as her thoughts ceased as River rolled on top of her, pushing her into the mattress and kissing her deeply, biting at her lip, and the Doctor moaned, almost whimpered into her mouth. She chased River’s mouth with her own, sliding her hands up to caress her wife’s breasts. IT would be so easy to just pick back up where they’d left off last night, after they’d been satisfied, lying in the dark in each other’s arms…

She groaned in disappointment as River pulled away.

“Oh, don’t give me that face,” River said, bopping the Doctor’s nose with her own. “We’ll have all the time in the world once we sort out this situation.”

“You’re right,” the Doctor said, sitting up suddenly. “We have to track down that egg. I think I have a feeling about where it is?”

River grinned and scrunched her nose. “I love it when you have a plan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but sweet :D
> 
> The next chapter should be longer, thank you so much for reading!


	8. The Nest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and River find the missing egg.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! Thanks for sticking with me! This fic is coming to it's home stretch! Should be done within the next week!

Around an hour later, the Doctor and River were walking arm and arm through the campus grounds. They were doing their best not to attract attention, and figured they’d rather have Madame Kross be suspicious of the nature of their relationship then why the Doctor was running around waving an unidentified metal object at everything.

Every few feet the Doctor would surreptitiously scan the area with her sonic. She was still miffed at the amount of time the TARDIS was taking with her readings from earlier that week. It was possible that she was missing something obvious and the TARDIS was miffed at her for it. She’d follow that thought later.

The sonic made an interesting sound as she scanned by her classroom.

“Oooh, hello,” she said, checking the readings.

“I think we’ve found our trail,” River said, looking at the output over her shoulder.

“But why here?” the Doctor muttered.

“Have you ever met a little girl?” River asked in mock shock.

“Careful, I was one once,” the Doctor said, off-handedly as she clicked the sonic in a slow circle.

“What?” River asked, genuine surprise evident in her tone.

“Born one – didn’t expect to be a man for over two-thousand years, but such is life. Bit weird being a woman again, but definitely not bad.”

“Always wondered about your original face,” River murmured, following the Doctor as she followed the trail towards the dorms.

“Not the point right now,” the Doctor said, following the energy trail with the focus of a bloodhound. She knew River would have questions, but as her wife had pointed out earlier – they’d have all the time in the world after this.

No other teachers were around, so they weren’t stopped or questioned on their way into the dorms.

The students’ dorms might have been lovely once, but the drapes and carpets were dusty and moth eaten, and the wooden balusters were dull from lack of polish. The Doctor didn’t focus on this much as she raced up the slightly spiraling stairs to an upper level, River running after her.

On the fourth floor, the trail veered off the stairs and down the hallway. She followed it to room #423, where the trail stopped.

“Like I said,” River said, catching up a second later. “Little girls.”

The Doctor knocked on the door. There was a muffled whispered argument on the other side, followed by scuffling, and then the door opened.

Decana, Bech, and Casey peered out at them from the crack. They were all doing their best to look innocent.

“Yes, Doctor? Professor?” Casey said, wedging the entirety of her self in the gap between door and frame.

“Mind if we come in?” the Doctor asked, beaming at her small friend.

Decana said, “Yes,” at the same time Bech said, “No.”

Casey waffled for a moment before opening the door and moving her friends out of the way.

Once in the room, the Doctor pulled her sonic out again and scanned the room. The three girls edged towards the closet, putting themselves between it and the Doctor.

“Tell me, dears,” River said carefully, in a voice that told the Doctor that she’d spent a _lot_ of time with children, “What’s in the closet?”

“Your mom!” Bech blurted out, before grimacing at herself and dropping her face in her hands.

River laughed. “My mother was never in the closet.”

“You didn’t mention the egg,” the Doctor said, trying not to sound disappointed in Casey. She wasn’t her father – mother – whatever.

“I didn’t know about it until yesterday, I swear,” Casey said, eyes wide. “Bech was the one who took it.”

“I set up its habitat,” Decana added.

“I just wanted to see it hatch,” Bech said, trying to hide behind Casey and failing miserably as she was both taller and broader.

“Can I see it?” the Doctor asked gently.

The three girls had a quick, non-vocal conference, and then turned and nodded.

Casey and Decana opened the closet doors, and Bech slid out of the way. The Doctor saw River follow Bech and speak to her softly, but she was more focused on the egg in the closet wrapped in a worn sweater, with a couple desk lights shining on it. It was quite a good makeshift setup for a trio of seven year olds.

“You’ve done a good job here,” she said, ruffling Casey and Decana’s hair and flashing Bech a smile she hoped was reassuring.

The Doctor did a careful, lengthy scan of the egg. There’s something about the readings that feels familiar. She should _know_ this. Tentatively, she picks up the egg, brushing her fingers over the shell. She stops, holding perfectly still.

“Of course,” she breathes.

“What?” River, Casey, Decana, and Bech said at the same time.

“Feel,” the Doctor said, handing the egg to River.

River took it and gasped on contact. “Empathic energy.”

The Doctor nodded. “It feeds on emotions.”

“Like what?” Bech asked, slightly less embarrassed.

River clicked her tongue, looking the egg over.

“Love, happiness…” she seemed very distracted.

“Sounds nice,” Casey said.

“Does it take them away?” Decana asked.

River shook her head. “No, just feeds on the energy that the emotions create. I think I’ve heard of these before, Amareites, usually live in theaters – Doctor?”

The Doctor stared at the egg in River’s hand.

“That is not fair,” the Doctor whispered dangerously.

“Doctor…” River warned, placing a hand on her arm.

“They aren’t allowed to do that, it’s psychological abuse.” Her voice was shaking dangerously.

“Doctor,” River said, “What’s abuse?”

The Doctor shook herself. She cleared her throat.

“Sorry, sorry everyone. These creatures, these Amareites, are the reason your school is so miserable?”

“What do you mean?” Bech asked.

“It’s just an egg,” Decana said.

“A helpless egg, it’s not even a baby yet,” Casey added.

The Doctor took a deep breath. “The mother, the adult, she’s been making your lives miserable to feed her eggs rather than just – loving them and caring for them herself. I can’t – why would she just?” The Doctor broke off, bringing her hand to her mouth.

“That’s just poor parenting,” River said, holding the egg to her chest.

“Guess we’re its moms now,” Casey said, looking at Decana and Bech with a surprisingly mature expression.

“Here’s the thing,” the Doctor said, trying to calm the storm in her voice. “I think I know who the mother is. And this is not going to be pretty.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have two questions for y'all:
> 
> 1) show of hands - who want's the smut scene that happened between chapters six and seven?
> 
> And, 2) who wants a sappy River/13 fic based on the song "Stop the World," (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gczyDoBIOrc)
> 
> ANyways
> 
> As always, thanks for coming, comments are always cherished!


	9. Twice Shy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and River confront the mother of the eggs with unforeseen consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! One chapter left! How exciting! I should have it all completed by Monday, and then on to "The Missing Chapter," and the sappy song fic!
> 
> ANyways
> 
> Thank you al for reading!

“Do you think it was safe to leave the egg with them?” River asked.

The Doctor looked up from her project – an empathic incubator – that she was cobbling together from spare parts on the TARDIS floor.

“The egg had bonded to them, which is no wonder considering they’ve spent more time with it then it’s mother.”

River crouched down beside the Doctor and handed her the tool she’d been looking for unsuccessfully. “Do you think this’ll work?”

“I have to hope,” the Doctor said, fastening on the last of the dampers to the edges. “We can’t know her motivations, I’m just hoping they’re for the best.”

“Darling, I hope you never lose this optimism.” River kissed her forehead, and the Doctor leaned into the touch.

“Gets me further than my last few faces’ pessimism.”

“You’re not wrong,” River said, laughing slightly at the Doctor’s words.

“Right! I think that about does it.” The Doctor lifted up her creation to the warm TARDIS light.

“Practical,” River commented.

“Lets go, gotta get this sorted before anyone else gets hurt,” the Doctor jumped up, at the same time the console gave a warble.

“I’m going to see what she’s telling us,” River said, moving to the console as the Doctor headed to the door. The TARDIS could wait – she had what she needed to confront the Amareite mother.

“Doctor!”

“No time, River, you can tell me on the way,” the Doctor said over her shoulder.

She thought she heard River mumble something like, “not something to be told lightly,” but she wasn’t entirely sure.

\---

“Madame Kross!” the Doctor called, bursting through the headmistress’s door without so much as knocking, “A word, if you will.”

Madame Kross stood up from her desk sharply.

“You have no business being in this office,” she spat.

“Oh but I do,” the Doctor said, at a normal decibel level.

“Get out,” Madame Kross said, lowly.

“Not a chance sunshine,” River said, holding what looked like an elegant handgun from the wild west, but smoother and with crystalline implants.

Madame Kross smiled, and the Doctor felt herself grow cold again.

“Madame Kross, although I’m starting to suspect that is _not_ your real name, you are charged with breaking the 3097 th decree of the Shadow Proclamation,” the Doctor said.

“I knew you’d find me out. I despise your kind, spies of the Shadows.”

The Doctor shook her head. “I’m not a spy, Madame Kross. Just a traveler – I’m the Doctor, and I’m here to help. Please, just let me help.”

This did not have the intended, reassuring effect the Doctor was aiming for. Madame Kross screeched, her jaw unhinging, her skin melting inwards to reveal white, translucent porous skin. She looked like a bird stripped of its feathers, with a grotesque humanoid head, lanky clawed arms, and pitch black eyes.

“Bad day?” River quipped, raising her weapon.

Madame Kross turned her head round to screech at her storage closet. The doors opened and three other Amareites came out, each one clutching a child that the Doctor recognized with abject horror. Casey, Bech, and Decana were struggling against their captors, each holding two or three Amareite eggs.

“They _stole_ my _children_ ,” Kross said, her voice raspy and inhuman.

“No, you abandoned your children in the attic, and these girls wanted to rescue them.”

Kross just screeched at her.

“You don’t need to do this, you can lift your glamor, you can release these girls, this school from the misery you’ve cast. It’s not healthy for your children. I built this for you, to amplify the love you feel for your children, to nurture your eggs, keep them safe without you using anyone else’s emotions.”

“You know nothing!” Kross screeched. “Love does not make you strong!”

“Yes, it does,” the Doctor was speaking to Kross, but she was trying to direct her reassurances to Casey and her friends. “Love makes you fight harder, gives you something to fight _for._ ”

“Look at us!” screeched Kross. “Look at me! Look at my sisters! We’re deformed by our mother’s love. We cannot be loved, we cannot love, and so my children must be nourished on other things. Things that are eternal!”

“You do love your children!” the Doctor insisted, taking a few panicked steps forward. “If you didn’t care for them, why would you care?”

“Doctor, be careful!” River said.

“Trust me,” the Doctor said, slowly.

In that moment, several things happened. Casey bit the Amareite holding her, it released her with a screech, and River shot a blast of whatever was in her gun at said Amareite, knocking it cold. The other two Amareites released Bech and Decana in fear as Kross lunged with her claws at the group.

“Casey, no!” yelled several people at once, including the Doctor.

Casey crumpled to the floor, broken egg and blood staining her uniform shirt. Her eyes were wide and frightened, staring at nothing.

Kross all but forgotten, the Doctor dropped to the floor, scooping Casey up into her arms, pressing on her wound with one hand and fumbling for her sonic in the other.

“Doctor,” Casey gasped, blood bubbling at the corners of her mouth. “I think-I-I think I’m-”

“Shhhh… don’t talk,” the Doctor whispered, her voice shaking. She wouldn’t lose a child, she couldn’t lose Casey.

“Doctor, I’m – you’re – you need to – know – mom…” Casey trailed off, her eyes rolling shut.

“No, no, _no_ , stay with me.” The Doctor could feel her eyes welling with tears; she wasn’t losing, not today. It didn’t matter if Kross left, if they sorted out the school, if life was lost it meant _nothing_.

“How dare you,” the Doctor heard River hiss, pressing her sonic gun to Kross, who was making a weird gurgling cry. “She was only a _child_.”

“River,” the Doctor cried, hoping her wife knew that she needed help. The sonic was helping stabilize Casey, but it wouldn’t be enough. She had to get her to the TARDIS.

“Sister Krosseetca,” said one of the other Amareites in a voice that sounded much like her friend Ms. Seen, “Under the Amareiten Principles, you will be tried by the courts of Amarea.”

“Seenillca, no, we’re – we’re family.” Kross shrank back from her sister, who had pushed River out of the way.

River crouched down beside the Doctor, and whispered into her ear, “Let me take her.”

The Doctor nodded mutely, and in a flash, River and Casey were gone.

“You know the Principles,” Ms. Seen said. “Your exile was ours when you remained in alliance with the Principles, but you have gone against all of them. You shall be tried, and then sentenced.”

Kross began screeching, but Seen began chanting something, her Kross’s voice died. The other two Amareites grabbed both of Kross’s arms.

Seen turned to the Doctor.

“My sisters and I thank you for exposing our kin. We shall depart, but I will return to fix the mess she has made of this place.”

The Doctor nodded, shakily. “And I thank you.”

In a static blur of air, the quartet of Amareites disappeared.

Decana and Bech sank down beside the Doctor, still holding the other eggs. Their eyes were wide with shock and fear and worry. Decana mumbled something that sounded like a question, but the Doctor just shook her head. She took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around the two little girls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my formal apology for... well... that.


	10. Broken Pieces, Made Whole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Academy is finally sorted out, and the Doctor discovers what River had been trying to tell her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What. A. Wild. Ride. Thank you all for reading, it has been a blast! I hope you've enjoyed it!

The Doctor wished she could say, “And just like that, everything was fixed.” But that was not how it happened.

It took a few weeks for the emotional glamour to lift completely, and in that time there was such confusion and emotional outbursts, it was really another level of hell for everyone involved. The Doctor taught her classes, and a few others that had been taught by the disguised Amareites, at least until the three who were not Kross returned. It had taken some creative rearranging.

The second week got better. Ms. Seen was made the new headmistress as she truly did care for the students, unlike her sister. She fully removed the glamour her sister had placed, and as soon as it had cleared, phones started ringing of their hooks from the amount of calls from prospective parents looking to adopt, and parents who’d forgotten they’d had children for the last few years.

Classes were postponed in favor of reunions and adoption paper work. River chaperoned a tearful reintroduction between Daisy and her parents. Bech and Decana were adopted by the same couple, much to each other’s apparent chagrin and barely secret excitement.

All the while, Casey remained unconscious in the TARDIS. The Doctor visited her every spare moment she had, watch the golden light of the TARDIS core envelope and heal her. She knew Casey would be okay, but she was worried by the time she was completely recovered the wave adoptions would end and Casey would remain parentless.

Three weeks after Kross’s “dismissal,” Ms. Seen invited the Doctor up to her office for tea.

The Headmistress’s office was more cheerful with Ms. Seen in it, though still too uncluttered for the Doctor’s taste. She sat down across from her friend – at least she was assuming they were still friends – and took a sip of tea from the cup that was waiting for her.

“My sister lost her trial,” Ms. Seen said, lowering her cup into its saucer with a _clink._ “She should not trouble this place again.”

“Good, good,” the Doctor said. “And what are your plans?”

“Very simple. Make this place a good place again. The amount of adoptions is slowing, but that is because there are fewer children here in need of adoption. Perhaps one day this will simply be a boarding school.”

“A world where every child is wanted and has a loving home? A wonderful world indeed,” the Doctor said, taking a sip of her tea. “And what of your sister’s eggs?”

“I have entrusted one of my other sisters with them, and the incubator you created, and bid them find a willing theatrical company to host them.”

“Excellent.” The Doctor nodded approvingly.

“And what of the child?” Ms. Seen asked.

“Not yet awake, but in good condition. Her name should be able to go on the list of potential adoptees in the next few days.”

Ms. Seen gave the Doctor an expression she couldn’t quite name – her lower lip digging into her upper one. It resembled concern a bit, but that wasn’t quite right.

“I’d be delighted to, but Casey doesn’t have a family status on record.”

“Pardon?”

“Her record doesn’t state whether or not she has a family, or is an orphan, so we cannot legally allow her to be adopted. We will launch an investigation with any means we have, but it is unlikely that that will prove fruitful any time soon.”

“I understand,” the Doctor said, her heart sinking for her small friend.

“In the meantime, she will of course retain her home here. I will be sure to notify you of any developments.”

The Doctor knew when she was being dismissed.

\---

Later that afternoon, the Doctor returned to the TARDIS to find River waiting for her by the console.

“Is she?” the Doctor trailed off.

“She’s awake,” River confirmed.

The Doctor made to run for medical, but River caught her arm.

“You need to see something first,” River insisted. “The results of your scan.”

“Which one?”

“Your scan of Casey’s bruise.”

River brought up the information with a few expert taps, and soon the display was filled with Circular Gallifreyan. The Doctor’s eyes widened.

“That’s not – it – no,” she said, pointing at the screen as if it was lying to her deliberately.

“It is, Doctor, you know it, in your heart.” River placed her hand on the Doctor’s arm. “Go talk to her.”

The Doctor shook her head. “I can’t.”

“You can.”

After only a little more waffling, the Doctor made her way back to medical. The room was white, but not in a stark way, just in a clean, orderly way. Casey was sitting in a child-sized bed, hooked up to an IV. The girl’s face brightened when she saw the Doctor, and she waved cheerfully.

The Doctor sat in the chair she had occupied for many an hour over the last few weeks and cleared her throat.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, awkwardly, even though she genuinely did care.

“Much better – River said I’ve made a full recovery!” Casey reached for the Doctor’s hand, and even though she resisted a moment, the Doctor took it, squeezing it tightly. “Why do you look so worried?”

“Casey… do you remember your parents at all?”

Casey’s mouth opened to answer, but then it closed again as she thought deeply. She shook her head.

“Just this school,” she answered.

“How long have you been at the school?”

Casey thought about this too. “A year? Maybe two? I can’t… quite, remember?”

The Doctor took a deep breath, her hearts pounding, eyes screwed shut against the tears. All she could see was those tunnels, those soldiers, the humans and hath, the source, Jenny… precious wonderful Jenny.

“Doctor…” Casey said, her voice so small it broke the Doctor’s hearts. “Is there something wrong with me? Was River wrong? Am I not going to be okay?”

The Doctor let out a strangled noise that turned into a dry sob.

“You’re going to be just fine.”

Casey reached out to touch the Doctor’s face, her hand so small compared to the Doctor’s cheeks. The Doctor brought her free hand up to press Casey’s.

“I’m going to have to leave you now, aren’t I?” Casey said, her words more of a statement then a question.

“Why would you have to do that?” The Doctor closed her eyes again.

“Because I can be adopted now? River mentioned that kids are getting adopted again.”

The Doctor shook her head, tears leaking out as she pulled Casey’s hands together in her own.

“You don’t have to leave because… because… you – you do have a family.”

Casey looked at her with a puzzled expression on her face. “What do you mean?”

The Doctor picked up a stethoscope from the tray of tools nearby and fitted the earpieces in Casey’s ears. Carefully she settled the round end on the left side of her chest, and then slid it over to the right.

“What is that?” Casey asked, eyes wide.

“My hearts.”

“You have two of them? But, humans don’t…” Casey trailed off, searching the Doctor’s eyes for explanation.

“I’m not human. I’m a Time Lord, and for all intents and purposes, I’m the last of my kind. Or at least, I thought I was.” The Doctor took the end of the stethoscope and placed it over Casey’s heart, much to the girl’s confusion. Then she moved the end to the right, and Casey gasped as she inevitably heard her second heartbeat for the first time.

Casey pulled the earpieces out, staring at her blankets for a long moment before looking up at the Doctor.

“I’m, I’m – I’m not… I’m not human?”

“No, you’re not,” the Doctor said, taking Casey’s face in her hands. “You’re my daughter. I don’t know how you got here, or when you regenerated, but you’re my little girl. I thought I’d lost you, like I told you and River – but here you are! Here and whole, and real…” The Doctor closed her eyes and pressed a kiss to her daughter’s forehead, the TARDIS’s words telling her the Casey’s DNA was a match for her own swimming in her head.

Minutes passed, and Casey migrated to the Doctor’s lap and River joined them soon after.

The Doctor cried, holding her daughter and her wife in her arms. After centuries of thinking she’d lost them both, she had them back, with no fixed end date or looming war to think about.

She had her family again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here we are! You made it! Ten chapters! Wooo! Soon I will start working on the things I have promised!
> 
> ANyway
> 
> See ya in the next fic!

**Author's Note:**

> Questions? Comments? Concerns? Existential crises? Please leave a comment, I love feedback of any kind!


End file.
